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‘The book of the summer … Kept me rapt until the final page’ THE TIMES

‘A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. I loved it’ David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY

‘More than lives up to the hype … Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers’ lives’ IRISH TIMES

‘Droll, shrewd and unafraid – a winning debut’ Hilary Mantel, author of WOLF HALL

‘I’ve been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Some of Dolan’s pithy observations of her characters are the best I’ve read since Edward St Aubyn’ OBSERVER

‘A frankly sensational book’ Pandora Sykes on THE HIGH LOW

‘In the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron … I found myself purring with pleasure. …This is comic writing at the highest level’ Craig Brown, DAILY MAIL

When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents’ money, it’s called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she’s not sure what to call it, but it involves:

– a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children;
– Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room;
– Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks;
– money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.

Exciting times ensue.

Publisher Review

We loved Dolan's evisceration of Insta culture - SAVAGE. -- Cosmopolitan * Cosmopolitan * A sharp, witty debut. * Stylist * Meet the new Sally Rooney... That might sound like hyperbole but this tale brings fresh and on-point insights into modern love that'll make it a hit with lovers of Normal People * Stylist * Exciting Times, is more caustic and cynical than Rooney's writing, if just as clever ... All the fretting over love and class could be compared to Austen or Wharton, but her light treatment of bisexuality and polyamory is utterly 2020 * Guardian * Witty, compelling and with a razor-sharp social commentary. I guzzled it. Hands down one of the most anticipated debuts of the year ... A piercingly provocative look at modern love and power games. * BookRiot * Echoes of Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends resound in this exacting debut novel * Oprah magazine * Intelligent and effortlessly funny, Exciting Times is a novel that gets under your skin. Each character is clearly realised with electric dialogue and a sympathetic eye. This is a modern love story that will live with you long after you've finished it Finance, sex, cynicism and unspoken feelings are swirled together in a can labelled 'Hong Kong' in this modern love triangle * Irish Independent * We're really, um, excited about this sharp, smart debut * Red magazine * Following the love triangle between three expats living in Hong Kong, Exciting Times dissects the financial and personal transactions that make up life * Platinum magazine * 2020 is set to be a huge year for Naoise Dolan * Irish Examiner * Dolan's debut lives up to the hype, a hypnotic tale of a young Irish woman adrift in Hong Kong and caught between two very different relationships. * The i newspaper * So wry, witty and insightful -- Elizabeth Macneal, author of THE DOLL FACTORY Forensically brilliant - an elegant and painfully funny portrait of greed and hunger, love and indifference -- Michelle Gallen, author of BIG GIRL, SMALL TOWN I have been obsessed with this debut novel from Naoise Dolan for the last few weeks. A hugely addictive voice and a compelling story. Brilliantly funny, surgically sharp, furiously political. Expect to hear lots about Exciting Times next year -- Michael Hughes, author of COUNTRY Among the most hotly tipped debut authors for 2020 * The Bookseller * This is icily brilliant stuff. A poised and surgical examination of class, sex, language and self-making, with some flat-out enviable jokes -- Paraic O'Donnell, author of THE HOUSE ON VESPER SANDS Devastatingly perceptive and articulate in every sentence. Whenever I wasn't reading it I was worrying about the characters as if they were people I knew. It's a joy to encounter a book so compulsively readable and painfully funny while simultaneously deeply insightful on love, on sexuality, on social class, on their links as terribly inextricable in the 21st century as they ever were. Dolan is a major talent and this is a formidable debut -- Luke Kennard, author of THE TRANSITION Half Sally Rooney love triangle, half glitzy Crazy Rich Asians high living - and guaranteed to please * Vogue, 'Books We Cant Wait to Read in 2020' * This debut from Dolan explores a love affair between an English teacher and a banker in Hong Kong and the lawyer who blows the whole thing sky-high. Definitely one to watch. * Stylist, 'Best new books for 2020' * A funny, smart and sensitive exploration of love, privilege and bisexuality that had me gripped from the first page. Dolan's sentences are like a splash of cold water to the face in the best possible way. -- Clare Fisher, author of HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN A sharp, funny account of a contemporary relationship, told tenderly and with biting, bright insight. -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of THE MERCIES A love story about three expats in Hong Kong - teacher Ava, banker Julian, and the alluring Edith - and explores the nuances and uncertainties of modern love * Cosmopolitan, 'Best Books of 2020' * Read if you like Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth, Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath * Sunday Times Style * Exciting Times, which was acquired in a seven-way bidding war, more than lives up to the hype ... It teems with insight around class, race, language and sexuality. Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives. * Irish Times * Fiercely intelligent, brutally funny and written with such heart, Exciting Times announces an impressive new voice in literature. -- Nathan Filer, author of THE SHOCK OF THE FALL Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut